What is the worst car you ever owned?

Couple points:
The Yugo, I believe, has Fiat 127 roots. Fiat, though not durable, in those days, at least had a bit of "joie de conduire" / "piacere guidare" (sp?) 'kinda sense, happy in its own skin, happy and nice drive feel. City car limitations, yes, but still... Presumably you found this to be the case?

Re the Nissan Versa Note: in Canada we had, from '15 to '19, the Nissan Micra, the immediately previous generation to what currently is available in Europe, etc. Same powertrain as your Versa Note. I almost bought one. I found the drive quality really nice for a City/Suburban/60mph highway car. Five speed shifted nicely. EPS wasn't bad... I didn't buy it because of the rod-knock issue that Nissan strangely and seemingly never could get rid of. I set my mobile on sound-record, set it under the engine, and then varied the revs. Around 2500, if memory serves, the sound of (if ever so slight) rod knock. Brand new 2017 car... 'Gotta give your head a shake. I swear I would have bought it otherwise. Drove 'real nice. Was $CDN 9,999. 'Real good price.
Yes the (Zastava/Fiat) Yugo was indeed fun to drive; a ferrari developed engine - revved like a 2-stroke chainsaw. Car was stable on the highway also. NO Synchro in first gear in the four speed. Great feedback and touch from the helm. Would benefit with a transplant of the 124 seats.

I discovered a contributing cause to engine knock issue on the Nissan Versa, mine developed it in the first cold winter morning commute to work.
Factory Made in China Nissan oil filters with less than o.5mm clearance between the filter end cap and the inside can wall. By the time I sorted this out, the damage was done.

You can see here where the cardboard endcap was rubbing against the can near the base;
- the oil from the pump has to flow around this to get to the centre tube outlet

nissan filter.JPG


Not mIne, but same colour
yugogv.jpg
 
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2008 VW Jetta TDI 5speed

Within 50 miles of new, clutch engagement seemed chattery.
Engagement only worsened with mileage.
Search revealed VW used a dual mass flywheel on their diesel manual vehicles. Upon searching, found that there was a WORLD-WIDE recall for them everywhere EXCEPT North America?! Many examples of US customers who experienced a flywheel disintegration, and subsequent destruction of the transmission, were told "they didn't know how to drive a manual transmission", and were denied warranty coverage. US Dealers even when presented with a copy of the recall, refused to address the issue.
Found on line, that the conventional solid flywheel and clutch assembly from a VR6 was a bolt in. I performed that swap fixing the issue, and discovered that my dual mass unit was badly leaking and likely would have disintegrated in time. That was major issue #1.
#2
was the finding that the "pump-deuse" diesels, which had the injection pump built into the cylinder head and actuated by lobes on the camshaft, along with the lobes actuating the valves themselves were abnormally wearing due to insufficient lubrication on the top end of the engine. When I pulled the valve cover, I found evidence of this after only 30K miles, despite rigid OCI's using the proper VW spec oil.

At this point I got rid of the vehicle. I will never get near another VW, or for that matter Audi vehicle.
 
Yes the (Zastava/Fiat) Yugo was indeed fun to drive; a ferrari developed engine - revved like a 2-stroke chainsaw. Car was stable on the highway also. NO Synchro in first gear in the four speed. Great feedback and touch from the helm. Would benefit with a transplant of the 124 seats.

I discovered a contributing cause to engine knock issue on the Nissan Versa, mine developed it in the first cold winter morning commute to work.
Factory Made in China Nissan oil filters with less than o.5mm clearance between the filter end cap and the inside can wall. By the time I sorted this out, the damage was done.

You can see here where the cardboard endcap was rubbing against the can near the base;
- the oil from the pump has to flow around this to get to the centre tube outlet

View attachment 107127

Not mIne, but same colour
View attachment 107126
I did hill climb in Yugo 55. Slap double Weber carburetors and some other small modifications and you are closing 100hp range. Key was setting up hand brake so it engages both rear wheels at exact same time. That allows you some serious performance through mountain curves where 2 Yugos cannot pass next to each other.
 
...
I discovered a contributing cause to engine knock issue on the Nissan Versa, mine developed it in the first cold winter morning commute to work.
Factory Made in China Nissan oil filters with less than o.5mm clearance between the filter end cap and the inside can wall. By the time I sorted this out, the damage was done.

You can see here where the cardboard endcap was rubbing against the can near the base;
- the oil from the pump has to flow around this to get to the centre tube outlet

View attachment 107127
...
That is totally crazy, how Nissan could not figure that whole matter out. I wonder if in the 5-year-in-Canada run they ever figured out the rod knock issue...
 
I loved the room but my late 80's early 90's Chrysler Grand Caravan can't remember exact year- transmission problems, leather seating tore easily and slide door broke. Now my 96 was a great van, sold it with close to 200k miles (I had for around 70k) and zero problems.
 
2001 Civic. Very needy car, something every 2 years. AC failure was the last straw. Still: drove it 10 years and 176k before trading in. So "worst" is kinda relative--I'd probably have thought differently had I lived through the 80's and earlier.
 
Long thread but honestly probably an '06 Matrix. Mileage keeping up with Interstate traffic at ~80 was under 24 and gas tank was tiny. The factory Contis sucked in the snow and the car didn't know which way was straight since it was basically square.

Toyota ergonomics were just horrible for me....my favorite being the Chinese water torture (er Japanese water torture?) driver armrest that wasn't really an armrest but more of a tiny sloping shelf guaranteed to make you THINK you could rest your forearm there....until a few seconds later when it kicked you off.

It was just an econo-box through and through (small, tinny, flighty, sketchy, cramped, gutless) and maybe we expected too much of it.
 
I’ve owned 10 cars (not including 10 or so my wife has owned).

Out of all those cars/trucks, I’d say the worst one I’ve owned was a 2018 Chevy Silverado.

Bought new, absolutely babied and overmaintained that thing. Traded it in at 52,000 miles. Starter left me stranded after the first year and 30,000 miles. Just CLICK, no start. Had to be towed. Bad starter, common issue. Then I got a random misfire at, wouldn’t you know it? 37,000 miles! Right out of warranty! No longer covered under the bumper to bumper warranty. Good compression, good spark. I’m assuming injector because fuel trims were -20% before settling into ”normal”. Called dealer. Not covered. But it only threw that check engine light one more time on the way to 52,000 miles before I traded it. Flashing check engine light. Had other issues anyway. Couldn’t make it up an incline on the highway without it lugging. It would just misfire or the torque converter would shudder. Not sure which. The AFM would switch in and out so frequently that the transmission didn’t know what to do. In and out. Frame rust from day one, right on the dealer lot. Chevy shake at highway speeds. Oil consumption from day one.

Here I was thinking...I’m going to buy my first brand new truck and keep it till I die. Yeah, bought the wrong truck.
 
I've owned a bunch, but my 2013 Subaru Forester was a bucket.

The interior was unbearable. It had so many squeaks and rattles that it sounded like I had the Tupperware aisle from Walmart thown in loose all over. The reverse lockout would give an audible clonk every time I came to a full stop just as a cherry on top.

Engine randomly drank an alarming quantity of oil (more than a quart low in a single tank of fuel). It wasn't consistent when it would guzzle oil or not. The dipstick design was a mess, so getting accurate readings was a challenge. On hot days in the summer, it would randomly have mega spark-knock on acceleration, computer would dump the ignition timing and it would be really slow until it recovered. I replaced spark plugs at 18K because it would misfire cold on a couple cylinders. Plugs were shockingly bad. Never had codes so the dealer didn't know where to start.

The transmission, despite being the venerable 4EAT unit, couldn't decide what gear it wanted to be in. It was in a HUGE rush to get into 2nd gear. This lead to many a 1->2, then slamming back to 1 because all the acceleration is gone and I would push the pedal 0.001mm further than it wanted which provoked a dramatic downshift, then back to 2.

I bought it new but traded it in 2 years later, I'd had enough. I'd have to be out of options to consider buying another Subaru.
 
1991 GMC Jimmy. Biggest POS I ever owned. It was the last GM I owned and I told my wife we’d go back to horse and buggy before I bought another Generous Motors product.

FWIW the dealer was also a big part of my stance and situation.

Just my $0.02

I recall the GMC Jimmy being thought of as very bad with the AWD stuff going haywire. The almost identical Chevy Blazer was considered much better as it was 2WD until you manually put it in 4WD. I think the AWD transfer case was the main issue and led to cascading failures among other components, even electrical IIRC...
 
I am from the UK, I know about Bad vehicles ;-)

But the worst POS I ever had was a 78 Chevy Scottsdale 3/4 ton with a 350 ci and a Quadrajet.
Man I could write for half an hour with the problems with that truck.
It was not a bad example, it was 2 years old and low milage when I had it. It was just Bad to the bone !
Low power with big flat spots in power delivery, horrible gas consumption, Rust and pealing paint, Brakes that would lock the rear in even moderate braking, Awful ergonomics, fake chrome trim that would peel and cut you like a razor, weather stripping on the door frame (not the door) so it got destroyed getting in and out of the truck, A heater fan that ran all the time and soon developed a squeal.
I never bought a GM product again !
 
More that I think on it, this by far was the worst I’ve EVER owned and also the shortest amount of time of ownership -just days 😂

Bought car from sketchy cash only dealer in the city with 100k on it… by 101k The 3.8l threw a rod… yeah it knocked loudly for a few hundred miles… right after I drained the slick 50 out of the motor to put in Pennzoil platinum synthetic …

even before it was knocking, on the trip home I swore I was gonna break down … I had to keep the pedal to floor just to
Maintain speed … the next day I noticed it would only have power when it was cold / first 2 miles of trip then it would lose 90% of its power once it warmed up… to the point of acceleration to 60 would take 40 seconds floored.
The transmission would go in neutral on any turn, so I would not hit the throttle in turns 😂 fluid change did not not help.
The brakes had no confidence, nor did the suspension/steering.
The coolant was pure sludge
Oh and I hit a massive crater on the Tappan Zee Bridge, and intern it messed up the steering wheel alignment a good 40° off-center to go straight lol.

What a pile, and a complete waste of 2500$ In about 2008.

Got 500 bucks a few short weeks later and I was thrilled just to get rid of it.

Never again.

For bitog enjoyment- I cannot believe I actually found the video of it knocking that I recorded like 14 years ago!!





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Did it make 100k km or engine fell apart before that?
On positive side, you are lucky you didn’t own 2.2 D4D.
2.0 and 2.2 after 2011 have similar issues. There was just to many problems, not just the engine. Even my Fiat was better. Got in a car accident so the car ended up in junk yard before i got 100 k km on it.
 
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